5 Ways to Sell SAP S/4
HANA
'Should SAP customers move to Suite on HANA or
S/4HANA? If so, why?'
I was sipping tea with a bunch of IT honchos at a
SAP event last week when one of them asked this primordial question.
After listening to them for a while, I tried to
butt into the conversation when one of my good friends interjected.
Hey, you are a sales guy. What do you know
about SAP? In particular S/4HANA?
That's when I had to tell him about my decade old
indulgence with SAP stack, partners and the eco-system. This included
consulting, selling and implementation experiences across multiple
continents, industries and businesses. All the way from 3.0F onwards.
Selling SAP licenses and follow through services
used to be pretty straight forward in a siloed IT environment. Things got lot
tougher down the road when innovations like cloud and mobility kicked in.
Now it's lot more tougher since customers have
umpteen choices and are under different kind of overwhelm. Digital
disruption!
I truly empathise with SAP field sales force who
have to go through a massive persuasion and selling effort every 6-7 years when
the world changes from one theme to another.
This time around the challenge is to convince
customers to choose SAP - lock, stock and barrel - one more time!
That is to throw away underlying database, migrate
to SAP S/4HANA and hook up a bunch of applications - Concur, Ariba,
SuccessFactors, Hybris, FieldGlass - and carry on until the next upgrade cycle.
Run Simple.
Good slogan but not that convincing yet.
At this juncture, it is quite apt to reflect
on Bill McDermott (SAP CEO) speech at SAPPHIRE 2016. He acknowledged
that SAP got a wake up call from customers and had to scramble for fresh
messaging that would better align SAP’s stated trajectory with customer value.
"Everything has to start
with empathy for the customer (the end user)".
In fact, Bill had the heads of Ariba, Concur,
Hybris and SuccessFactors on stage - all stating how much SAP has done already
in regards of empathy.
There in lies the truth and the difficulty - SAP aligning
to customer value amidst digital disruption.
Before jumping to conclusions let's
explore what is bothering customers these days. To test it out try
answering these questions on behalf of the C-Suite of your top customers:
How is digital disruption going to affect my
industry and my company?
What is of value to my customers? How can I
include my customers in developing inputs to my business strategy?
How can we be relevant to our customers and their
customers? Are we going to be Uber-ed or Yahoo-ed soon?
How can I stay ahead of the competition in
this type of cut-throat business environment?
How do we understand what our customers really
want and shape internal business processes to deliver on those needs?
Customer-driven, agile business models and IT
services are increasingly complicated. How can I handle the overwhelm?
My IT costs are going up in these uncertain
times? How do I manage it?
There is plenty of technology available? What is
the best IT strategy that will allow me to adapt and be nimble?
SAP sales teams have to answer each of these
questions convincingly if they have to move their installed base to S/4HANA.
The answers should help customers justify the
value of single stack SAP and 22% annual maintenance fee that goes to fund
R&D.
If I were a SAP Sales guy selling S/4 HANA this is
what I will do
Empathise with the customer (including the
investments they have made in SAP) and find ways to defend their business both
in the short and long term.
1. Focus on Customer business and industry:
More than selling S/4HANA, Concur, Hybris and
SuccessFactors licenses I will be more concerned about my customer business -
their revenue streams, profit pools, industry challenges, business model,
operational model, business strategy and how their current IT strategy
helps piece things together.
If you are not doing this, you are simply a
product or service pusher. You don't add much value.
There is no real customer empathy.
2. Have 3 reasons how SAP can help customers
cross the chasm
Any industry will have innovators, early adopters,
early majority, late majority and laggards. I will help my customer
understand where they stand in the value curve and how it will play out in the
context of impending digital disruption.
This time around it is about working outside in.
That is to work from customer experiences backwards.
Find out how you can help your customer anticipate
and plan for disruptive trends in their industry. It is not about
technology anymore.
It is about innovative business
models and delivering superior customer experiences.
3. Simplify messaging around SAP HANA
I tried going to a single place and follow a
coherent path that adequately explains what S/4 HANA delivers. This is what I
found:
1. Central Page on SAP.com as Launchpad: http://go.sap.com/product/enterprise-management/s4hana-erp.html
2. flipbook link your path to s4 http://www.saps4hanahub.com/i/675945-choosing-your-path-to-sap-s-4hana/0?m4=
3. Business Scenario Recommendations – see sample report
4. Link to Innovation discovery – review S4 innovations in detail
– link to http://go.sap.com/services/transition-to-s4hana.html (bottom of page: very
detailed info regarding transition
– link to Wieland Schreiner blog on SCN
5. Solution explorer: https://solutionexplorer.sap.com/solexp/ui/vlm/is_s4hana_onpremise/vlm/is_s4hana_onpremise-ind-is_s4hana_onpremise.
For heavens sake, you got to message right.
Let's MESSAGE SIMPLE.
4. Tell a great story
I am still not sure why SAP or its partners have
not mastered the art of story telling?
The story is not about HANA,
upgrades and the litany of features. Storytelling is about the value your
audience derives from listening to you, using your product, working on your
technology, bringing in sales, investing in you and your vision.
Bill McDermott's customer empathy
statement should be switched to human mode.
If google can tell a great story, I am sure SAP
can too.
5. Finally, craft an excellent value
proposition
Here is current HANA value proposition:
"One Platform, One Copy of data, Less
Integration, More Innovation" .
I am not sure if this aligns to customer's sense
of current value. Let's get the current reality into perspective.
"Digital is now the life blood of
businesses. Clients are looking for solutions that will allow them to defend
their businesses (from digital disruptors) while innovating to create new areas
of growth. To do this businesses should make fundamental changes to customer
experiences, operations and business models".
This impacts the front office, the middle office
and the back office of organisations.
As a Sales person, my pitch will be around how S/4HANA
can help companies achieve this.
In summary:
As digital disruption overwhelms most of the
industry value chains, SAP sales teams, and their partners should pitch in a
way they clearly communicate client value.
1. Focus on customer business and the industry
landscape. Understand the disruptive forces and what are the options available
to customers to re-invent themselves
2. Have 3 well defined messages as to how SAP can
help customers (digital immigrants) cross the chasm
3. Message Simple.
4. Tell a great story. Empathy starts when
technology connects with human beings.
5. Finally, craft an excellent value proposition.
Happy selling folks.
About Agility Nexus
Agility Nexus is a Sales and Business
Consulting and Coaching company serving business leaders in Technology Industry
to accelerate revenue generation. We consult, coach, train and solve problems
at the intersection of marketing and sales. We blend various strategies
including Emotional Intelligence to help sellers better connect, engage with
customers and offer great customer experience.
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